I think the framerate is dependant of the map data reading. And it's not as efficient as possible in the main branch. It's rewritten in the modular_map branch, but i haven't tested the gui yet with this branch (next thing in my todo list )
But the framerate is really usable for this kind of app. Of course, i wouldn't say the same thing for a game.

About the integrated keyboard, i only forgot to talk about it Since the app is bound to be used on a touchscreen, of course, there is one

[Offtopic] I tried yesterday to register on the nghost forums, but got an error with phpmailing or something like that at the end of my registration. So i didn't get the confirmation link. Can you help? You can PM me.
[/Offtopic]

Where to get navit :
There's the main branch, available from cvs. This will work only with datas like Falk's reiseplanner, as stated on the website.

There's the fork with the sdl gui. It's based upon the main branch, so it will need the same datas sources.

And, here comes the modular_map branch. It can use the datas of the two previous, plus garmin, plus openstreet maps. And it keeps growing

I'm currently porting the sdl gui to the modular map.

So basically : if you have falk's reiseplanner, or something compliant, you can use the branch and gui of your liking.

If you have garmin, or want openstreet maps, you need modular_map.

If you have issues getting datas from the CVS, i can roll a tarball and put it somewhere. But since i'm lazy, i'll only do it on request (i believe there's tarballs of navit in the nghost forums. i'll post the link later).

I think the main branch is soon to be deprecated (hence its slow development), because the modular_map branch is starting to reach its goal. I'll let you know

I recommande make distclean first, cause it contains a lot of crap yet (hence the cvs not being up to date).

As for the garmin maps, i'm not using it, but i believe you can buy map updates seperately. But you'd better ask an expert

If you're on your way to buy maps, and live in Europe or North Africa, Falk's maps are good and work really well with navit. Plus, they are very cheap (Reiseplaner cost around 30/40€ iirc, and you can found them even cheaper on ebay).